N.y. Campaign Takes Low Road

D'amato-schumer Contest Slides Into Volley Of Insults

October 26, 1998|By Lisa Anderson, Tribune Staff Writer.

TUXEDO, N.Y. — Some words, it is commonly accepted, simply are not said in polite society.

Certainly not here, in this leafy upstate bastion of civility, home of the mannerly Emily Post and eponymous birthplace of the formal dinner jacket. And generally, not even in the rough-and-tumble world of New York politics do candidates resort to some of the cruder vulgarisms.

Not until last week, that is. Punctuating what is one of the tightest, meanest and most entertaining political slugfests in the nation, three-term GOP incumbent Sen. Alfonse D'Amato blithely called his Democratic challenger, nine-term Rep. Charles E. Schumer, a "putzhead." Now reverberating around the state, this unfortunate, if colorful, expression amounts to an updated twist on the Yiddish word "putz," a reference to the male anatomy often invoked to disparage someone as a fool or a jerk.

More schoolyard than senatorial, "putzhead" is hardly a nice word. That it was uttered by an Italian-American Roman Catholic at a private meeting with Jewish leaders about a Jewish opponent only adds to the surreal quality of the incident. D'Amato first denied making the remark, then acknowledged it, but has refused to apologize for it.

While few, including the indignant Schumer, seem to regard the remark as anti-Semitic, it is highly indicative of the low level of verbal spitballs now flying between D'Amato, 61, and Schumer, 47, in the waning days of the campaign.

For weeks, the two politicians have done little but trade insults both on the ground and through an expensive air war of commercials: the Brooklyn-based Schumer primarily hammering home the idea that D'Amato is a liar ("Too many lies for too long") and D'Amato relentlessly bashing Schumer as an absentee legislator who has missed more House votes in the last 12 months than D'Amato missed in the last 12 years ("He's done less. He'll do less.").

Schumer continues to attack D'Amato for lying in his 1992 pledge to make his third term his last. And, although Schumer has missed some 100 votes in this campaign year, most of them were either on minor administrative issues or on issues that already commanded an overwhelming majority vote.

The substance of these ads may be questionable and so is their ultimate effect. The low-blow tactics have drawn reprimands from New York's Democratic senior senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and groans from voters.

"I hate the way they're not addressing the issues, except through smearing the other person," said Nina Matthews, the no-nonsense deputy town clerk of Tuxedo. A town of about 3,000 people nestled in the Ramapo Mountains 45 miles north of Manhattan, Tuxedo leans Republican.

Sitting in her antiques shop, Noel Jablonski, president of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed: "Unfortunately, their commercials have been pretty effective. They've been pointing out each other's record, and neither of them is looking too good."

In an election where turnout will be crucial, particularly for Schumer, the negative campaigning also may backfire. Schumer had hoped for a stronger turnout in New York City due to a proposed ballot referendum on replacing Yankee Stadium, but the referendum was blocked by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"I'm actually disgusted with both of them for stooping so low," said Mike Santoianni, 48, a Tuxedo realtor. He particularly dislikes being bombarded with nasty ads."They're about personal attacks and mudslinging, not about the issues," he said.

Warned Santoianni, "If politicians don't give good information, people become confused, frustrated and angry and say, `Why should I go out and vote?' In real estate, we say, a confused mind will always say `No.' It's human nature."

But both candidates seem more than willing to risk confusing voters with blizzards of ads.

D'Amato, the often-controversial but extremely powerful leader of New York's Republicans, is in the fight of his political life. An array of opinion polls indicate the candidates virtually splitting the vote. After 18 years in the Senate, having defeated every opponent he has ever faced, from the incumbent Jacob Javits in 1980 to former state Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams in 1992, D'Amato may finally have met his greatest match in Schumer.

The Harvard-educated Schumer has amassed a respected record and reputation for hard work during his 18 years in the House, where he authored the Brady gun-control bill. Moreover, as a politician who has never lost an election, he has as much stomach for a brawl as does D'Amato.

Said Jay Severin, a GOP political consultant: "The biggest problem for Senator D'Amato is that Chuck Schumer has so far resisted the invitation to play the punching bag that other D'Amato opponents have been all but too willing to be. Schumer hits back."

Indeed, Schumer has churned out retaliatory ads responding to D'Amato on a variety of issues including education, gun control and Social Security taxes.